


Nothing Else Matters

by twoturtlesinabathtub



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship, These two are so pure and I love them, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 03:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13227465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoturtlesinabathtub/pseuds/twoturtlesinabathtub
Summary: Felicia makes good on her offer to teach Xander some of the duties of being a maid, and Xander learns much more than he expected.





	Nothing Else Matters

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve decided to begin writing little stories about some of my favorite _Fates_ pairings, and this is definitely one of them, haha. Set following Felicia and Xander’s A-Support.

When Xander had said that the work of a maid had to be more difficult than it appeared, there had been no sarcasm involved.

Before joining the allied Hoshidan and Nohrian armies under Corrin’s command, Felicia had been employed in the Northern Fortress for _years_ ; if she was still having trouble completing the tasks assigned to her, then the job had to be a difficult one indeed, the prince reasoned to himself. Both she and Xander lived to serve in capacities that were shared by few others, duties that took up nearly all of their waking hours. Despite knowing that their stations were practically polar opposites, the prince felt a kinship with her, of sorts.

He’d been fully serious when he’d told her that observing her going about her work soothed him. The single-minded determination she applied to each task was admirable, as was her tireless persistence in attempting to remedy her mistakes. Xander felt that he could learn a lesson or two from Felicia. Anyone could.

As he watched the maid take careful, measured steps towards the kitchen table in front of her, the tray in her hands wobbling ever so slightly, he couldn’t repress his feelings of slight bemusement. How fascinating, that this woman sometimes struggled to walk without looking at her feet, but was also able to throw daggers with icy, lethal precision in battle. Speaking of which, his hand reflexively darted to her back to steady her when she accidentally leaned backwards a bit too far. “Oh. Forgive me,” he said, feeling oddly abashed as his hand quickly withdrew from touching her.

“I’m sorry, Lord Xander!” she said, her brow scrunching up in frustration. “I just can’t seem to get the hang of this part!”

“Which part?”

“...Every part.”

“Ah. I see.” Xander cleared his throat. “Perhaps I should take a turn.”

Felicia sighed. “Okay, okay.” She turned and held the tea tray out to him—Xander took it quickly to keep it from wobbling further—and switched positions with the prince so that she was standing off to the side. “All right, go. Be careful when you get to your third step, because that’s usually where my rhythm gets thrown off.” Xander’s expression grew more determined as she coached him. “Good, good. Now...place it on the table, and try not to let the teapot and cups rattle.” He gingerly set the tray down, and Felicia clapped enthusiastically at the display. “Perfect! Wow, how do you make it look so easy?”  
  
Xander gave her a small bow, a grin pulling at the corners of his lips. “It’s all thanks to my having such an excellent teacher.”

She laughed. “Thank you! I’m glad that you’re getting the hang of things. All right, I think we can move on to polishing some silverware.”

“I look forward to it.”

Xander felt it best that he polish the knives, intuitively realizing that Felicia would be better off if she worked with the spoons. Watching her work was interesting: she’d rub the same utensil for several seconds, squint at it, then shake her head with a dissatisfied little grunt and go back to polishing with even more gusto than before. The minutes passed in a comfortable silence as they worked steadily, and the size of Xander’s pile of polished silverware quickly eclipsed Felicia’s. He noticed that the air in the kitchen was growing steadily cooler and he began to shiver a bit, attracting the maid’s attention. “Ah! Oh, no!” she said. “I didn’t mean to make it so cold in here, sir. It just happens, sometimes.”

Xander suppressed a chuckle as she practically pouted. “It’s quite all right,” he assured her. “I’ve noticed on a few occasions that the temperature surrounding you drops whenever you’re upset. I’ve always known that your powers are magical, of course, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized they can activate unconsciously. You’re originally from the Ice Tribe, correct?”

“U-um, yes, Lord Xander.” She seemed to be staring intently at the spoon in her hand. “Flora and I are the chieftain’s daughters, actually.”

Xander made a small noise of surprise and then was silent for several moments, and the mood in the room suddenly shifted. Felicia looked over to see that the prince’s jaw was clenched, eyes narrowed as he stared at nothing. “I can only assume that you didn’t come to Nohr willingly, then.” Felicia didn’t respond, except to rub her cloth against the spoon in her hand even more firmly. “I am sorry, Felicia. Truly.”

Taken by surprise, she looked back up at him. “Why? You didn’t do anything. It was your fa—”

“You’re right,” said Xander, and Felicia noticed that his head had drooped a bit. “I didn’t do anything. For so many years, I watched my father lay waste to my country and callously toss aside the well-being of his subjects, and I did nothing. I witnessed his thirst for land and power grow as time passed, and, like a coward, I didn’t dare voice my objections.” The maid unconsciously raised her hand to comfortingly place it on his arm, but it froze an inch away from touching his shirt. “Felicia, do you know of the paladin’s code of chivalry?” Xander asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Not really, sorry.”

“I won’t recite it verbatim, but it has to do with furthering the cause of all that is good. Sincerity, courtesy, perseverance, compassion—all of these must be used to combat the forces of evil, wherever they may be found. A paladin must defend the helpless as much as possible.” Xander’s voice slowed and his cleaning cloth lowered as his hand tightened around the knife that he was holding. “I so wanted to believe that I was doing what was right by obeying my father. What else _could_ I do? To disobey my king would be treason. And now, I have abandoned my people to face his wrath alone. I have never felt more of a failure than I do now. Felicia, I’m so s—”

“Don’t say that!” Xander looked down at Felicia, taken aback by her outburst. The maid looked nervous, but she nevertheless continued. “Lord Xander, with all due respect, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself! I’ve seen how hard you train, and how hard you work to do everything you can for Nohr. It’s not your fault that King Garon has done what he’s done. You’re the furthest thing from a failure that I’ve ever known. Y-you’re, well...” Her face nearly went pink as her hair. “You’re pretty amazing, milord.”

Xander stared at her ponderously without saying a word, feeling strangely shy as her pale blue eyes met his own. He almost felt like a boy again, to no small amount of confusion on his part.

“I’m sorry—I know it’s not my place to say things like that.” She looked down at her hands, her shoulders hunched, as if she were waiting for a reprimand.

He shook his head. “Please, don’t apologize. I admire your candor. I should be the one apologizing—it wasn’t my intention to burden you with my troubles.”

She blinked at him a couple of times. “Everybody needs to be able to talk about what’s bothering them,” she said artlessly. “Flora and Lady Corrin and I talk all the time, and I know that it helps. Sometimes I feel like I’ll go crazy if I keep everything inside all of the time. It’s not very healthy to do that.”

“I see.” Xander paused. “I hope I’m not being too presumptuous, but know that you are welcome to discuss whatever you wish with me at any time.” He wanted to continue seeing her, as often as possible, and something warmed pleasantly in his chest at the realization. “I believe that I still have many things to learn from you, Felicia.”

“Oh! Um, thank you, Lord Xander.” He couldn’t help noting that she was looking a bit flushed at that. “You can talk to me, too. If you want.”

Xander considered her words for a moment. “All right,” he eventually conceded. “I may take you up on that. Thank you.”

She just grinned brightly up at him. “No problem.” They went back to their polishing. The kitchen’s temperature was already back to normal. “And you shouldn’t feel bad for me,” Felicia said suddenly. “I really, really like it here. I’m not happy unless I’m helping others. You get that, right?”

“I do. I live to serve my people.”

“Yep!” She nodded. “We just need to keep trying to help. We get up in the morning, and we do our best. And now that we’re here...nothing else matters, I don’t think.” Xander glanced over when Felicia made a small noise in triumph as she admired the perfectly polished spoon in her hand. “Yes!”

“Yes,” he echoed. Felicia looked up at Xander to see that although the smile he was giving her was small, it was one of the sincerest ones that Felicia had ever seen, and was incredibly infectious. She beamed back at him and he chuckled lightly. “Wise words. Now—” He straightened his posture and eyed her resolutely. “I believe you promised to teach me how to properly fold a bedsheet.”

She giggled. “Yes, sir!”


End file.
